Hillary Clinton and her shattered White House ambition

Much could be said of the biggest upset in modern political history last year that saw the most unlikely candidate in Donald Trump emerging winner of the keenly contested US presidential election on November 9. But a woman stood out in all of this. 


For a woman of Hillary Clinton's caliber, the Democratic party Presidential nominee it was so tough to accept defeat after a long campaign that took its toll on her, her White House ambition was shattered and only the brave could suck it up and move move on. 

Following the election loss, Clinton a brave and a strong woman who deserved commendation for her courage to concede defeat when it matters most, apologised to President Barack Obama for her bruising loss — right after calling Republican President-elect Donald Trump to offer him “congratulations.”

According to a new book chronicling her 2016 presidential bid called Shattered: Inside Hillary Clinton’s Doomed Campaign which is due to be out on Monday, Clinton said;

“Mr. President, I’m sorry,” according to a Washington Post review of the book.

The White House urged Mrs Clinton to concede as Mr Trump claimed battleground states — some by slim margins — because Mr Obama wanted to avoid a messy recount.

“You need to concede,” Mr Obama told Mrs Clinton directly, later repeating the instruction to her campaign chairman John Podesta for good measure.

The directive came after Mrs Clinton ignored previous messages from White House staff to throw in the towel.

Around 7:45 on election night, when Mrs Clinton and her aides still thought they were headed to the White House, vote-counter Steve Schale told campaign officials they were going to lose the biggest battleground in the country, the Washington Post reported.

“You’re going to come up short,” Mr Schale said.

In that moment Bill Clinton reportedly became furious. Mrs Clinton was stoic. Their cocksure aides started to blame one another.

According to the newspaper’s review, the call with Mr Schale marked the beginning of a riveting account of the final, dreadful hours of Clinton’s long pursuit of the presidency, as told by reporters Jonathan Allen and Amie Parnes in their new book.

The “blow by blow” account of the drama on election night in the Peninsula Hotel in Manhattan reveals how Mrs Clinton’s confidence at her victory was replaced by resignation as Mr Trump won the biggest upset in modern political history on November 9 last year.

Barack Obama, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton on US election night in November 2016. Source:Supplied

Mrs Clinton finally succumbed to the loss with the words: “Give me the phone”, according to the book.

She reportedly then called Mr Trump and said: “Congratulations, Donald.

I’ll be supportive of the country’s success and that means your success as president,” she said.

Minutes after the Democratic Presidential candidate made the call to Mr Trump, and suppressed “the anger that touched every nerve in her body”, she rang Mr Obama.

She told him she knew she had “let her country down” and that his legacy lay “shattered at Donald Trump’s feet”.

“Mr President, I’m sorry,” Mrs Clinton said.

Mrs Clinton conceded the loss publicly the next morning.